It's not fair
by donmesswitpanda
Summary: Left with a disfigurement in her face after a car accident that killed her family, Gayle Sherman is adopted by an abusive family and lives in fear. Then her letter comes, along with a strange woman names McGonagall. Nothing will ever be the same for her, especially not when her head of house notices how off the abuse she's suffered from has left her. Pre-SS/PS


It's Not fair

Prelude-Draft One

Life is not fair. Life is cruel and taunting. Life laughs at you when you fall down and scrape your knee and no one is there to tell you it'll get better. Life sneers when something good happens to you and goes to mess it up. Life isn't your friend, life is not for you. It's only yourself in this world, because when you're honest with yourself you're the only person in this life you can ever really trust. Gayle Larissa Sherman had to learn this the hard way, I'm afraid.

At first, young Gayle was very much like other children. She lived oblivious to the true ways of Life, playing in gardens and laughing with other children. She had two loving parents whom tucked her in every night. She had a little brother named Gabe and life was perfectly splendid. Her muggle life needed no changing, as she had no desire for it to change. Gayle was content living in her parents very muggle apartment on a very muggle street (it even came with a muggle name, _Rainy Boulevard)_ with very muggle friends.

Gayle, at the age of five, had long auburn hair that stuck up in every direction. It was just like her mummy's! To compensate, she had her father's honey brown eyes and tan skin. _Little angel,_ they'd call her and she just loved it! Gabe looked like her too, but his hair was more brown than red. When her parents went to sleep she'd go into his nursery and pat his fuzzy head and call him _little angel_ just like her parents did to her.

It came as a nasty shock when they got into that car accident. It was her fault because she begged them to take her to the park. Threw a nasty little temper tantrum to get her way, write in the middle of the supermarket. It was enough to make Gabe start bawling in Mummy's arms, and losing their patients the Shermans agreed to take her to the park.

 _For an hour,_ Daddy said irritably. _Just one._ Gayle happily agreed and got into her car seat with glee. Mum wasn't too happy about the situation. She said a couple words, daddy said some back, and their argument got more and more heated.

"We can't keep spoiling her!" She practically shouted and Gayle tried to drown them out by having a mock conversation with Gabe.

"My favourite colour is green too!" She said as her dad replied to her mother with "It's just _one_ visit to the park, Stacey!"

Mummy never replied. Mummy didn't make any noise when they crashed head on with another driver. Her death was instant. So was Daddy's. Gabe could have lived, if not for the car seat flipping over. It was Gayle's job to buckle him, but she forgot that day. She was too excited by the prospect of a visit to the park. By some miracle, they managed to pull a barely alive five year old out of a flaming vehicle. This was, for Gayle, life's very first harsh lesson.

The accident left burn marks across the left half of her face, her back, the thighs of both legs, and her abdomen. Yet another miracle was her being able to function normally. That miracle, Gayle will learn when she's much older, was her magic fighting to protect her. Sometimes she bitterly wishes that it didn't save her.

After the horridness of the hospital (because she's a witch, her body would violently reject any muggle medicine put into her. The doctors had quite a field day with her as you'd imagine.) came the horridness of foster care. It wasn't so bad at first. In fact, a couple even adopted her when she was seven. Lovely people they seemed to be. Hint the sarcasm.

The wife's name is Rachel Pigeter, and she's short and fat. Her face reminds Gayle of an old grumpy cat, with puffy grey hair, bushy eyebrows and squinty eyes that not even a thick prescription on her glasses could help. Plus, her thin lips are always painted a strawberry red that made her already white teeth even brighter. _Always._ It's not a surprise that the woman would scare her to death. Her husband is very much like her, only he's not really scary in appearance.

Mikey Pigeter looked like a guy who worked behind a desk 24/7, with a bad bald spot swept over with thin locks of stringy brown hair and the ugliest pale blue eyes she'd ever seen. Mikey's tall and thin and has a crow like nose. He didn't even really have eyebrows. Nothing really scary about that. It was the air around him that was off. Everytime the girl was in the same room as him an unpleasant shiver would go down her spine.

A year after the adoption and things had gone from bad to terrible. They started hitting her for the littlest of things, started berating her every chance they got, mocked her scars that disfigured her face happily. Evil, cruel people. When both of them woke up bald one morning after a nasty night Gayle felt no sympathy. She had her magic to thank for that, though she didn't really realize it was there until her eleventh birthday on the 5th of july.

That day, she lay curled up on her worn out bedand did absolutely nothing. Gayle knew better than to ask for presents on this day. Knew better than to expect anything really. Instead of celebrating like one would normally do on their birthday, she picked at loose threads on the thin blanket she rested on. At one point it was a nice, dark green. Like an emerald. Now it looked like the colour of barf.

Then an owl came with a strange letter knocking on her window. Gayle, of course being the sensible human she was at that point, threw the letter away thinking it was some strange dream she was having. A couple days after words a woman came to the Pigeter's small house, and Gayle found out about magic. Sadly, her adoptive parents did too.

"Magic?" Rachel snorted nervously. They were all seated in the living room. Rachel and Mikey on the love seat, Gayle on the armchair, and "Professor" McGonagall on another armchair. "Don't be insane . There is no such thing."

"Professor," The old woman corrected easily, most likely used to it. "And as I just demonstrated , there is indeed such thing as magic." The woman had said something that sounded oddly like 'Wing Gaurdian Lavi oh sah" and one of Rachel's beloved tea cups started floating up.

"So," Gayle began uneasily, ignoring the glares sent her way, "I can do that too?" Professor McGonagall nodded.

"Yes, with the proper training. You are a witch after all. Like I just said."

Mikey cuts in, speaking up for the first time since this whole ordeal began. "This is utter insanity." Rachel agrees with him by giving a sharp nod. The rest of the conversation went by similarly like this, and it took Professor McGonagall nearly two hours to convince the disbelieving couple. After that was settled, a new situation popped up in the couples mind.

"Well, there's no way we could possibly send off Gayle to this 'school.'" Rachel began with a face pinched in annoyance.

McGonagall looked frustrated by this point. "Why ever not?"

"Money of course!" Rachel said like this was the most obvious thing ever.

"There's a student loan of course, for the poor students. Money shall not be a thing to withhold a young witch or wizard an opportunity to learn." They seemed pleased by this. So did Gayle.

"Does this mean I can go?" She asks hesitantly, knowing she'll regret her constant interrupting later. Mikey sighed.

"I don't see why not."


End file.
